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    ON DISTBICT VISITORS* 328

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    ¦ ¦ • -* &* - It Is Tlie Fasmon Of Some ...

    widow Mrs . Evans . This good lady liking , as she says , to investigate things / ' though she rarely stirs fromhomeand never dreams of

    asking advice in alms-giving of her nei , ghbours , , indeed she would consider the act pharisaical , has Peggy in and discourses with her .

    Having found out that her husband is really ill , and , that the doctor says he is to have wine if his strength is to be kept up , " Which words ,

    _ina'ani , Mrs . Barnes will tell you is truth if you questions of her , " she trots out to her store-room and returns with some "wine in a

    bottle . This ( never _informing her of the bottle of wine she has had previously ) _Peg-gy baskets , and being now pretty heavily laden

    rehave turns a home bit of , gossi perhaps over calling her troubles at a nei never ghbour telling ' s on the the nei road ghbour to ,

    p , however , what . she has had given her , for , as she says , " It's only breeding jealousy to make a stir about a thing , '' and Peggy is

    wise in wordly wisdom . This system is carried on grossly in our parish , and very difficult

    tlie district visitor finds it , if she endeavors to prevent such imposition . The only way , indeed , would be to raake a common

    fund for port wine or other necessaries , for the sick , such as linen , blanketsetc . at one gentleman ' s houseand tell those who are in

    need to come , ther , e and there alone for what , they require . The money for such a fund could easily be raised in a village like ours ,

    indeed in . most villages , and the charities put into the hands of one clever discriminating person , who would have to render an account

    of the money expended , it would be much better laid out than in the vague benevolence that at present surrounds our alms-giving .

    But to return to district visitors . There are a few hints which it would be well if even the most zealous would take heed to . Do not , if

    you possibly can help it , find fault with the household management of the cottag _* es you enter . You yourself , dear lady , may be perfect in

    your household , but it is not so with pretty _youngMrs . Trevor . Still she would most likely think you very impertinent , did you offer her

    advice on her affairs unasked for ; and indeed you would not presume to do so to a lady , why then should you to the laborer's wife ? It

    her would comfort be kind , followed of you up if you by a were present to suggest that mig a ht few help lit her tle things to carry as out to

    there your hint throug s ; but h a catechism to enter a laborer before ' her s cottage own children to put the as wife to what and she mother has

    to live upon , how she manages , filled up with reproaches as to why she does not _heej ) her children cleaner and her cottage more tidy ,

    has always seemed to me both unladylike and uncharitable , and that it effects no good purpose I am also morally convinced . The poor

    woman is most likely thinking in her heart , " If you had as much to and do as it me is , ma ' likel am , I daresay as soon as you the would visitor not 's back be any is the turned more th tid at y she ;"

    may mutter very , " Does y she think that poor and rich are two different flesh that she talks to me so ? " The are peculiarlsensitive to

    kindness ; particularly from , their superio poor rs . A daily y visit during

    VOI .. T- X 2

    On Distbict Visitors* 328

    ON DISTBICT VISITORS * 328

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1860, page 323, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071860/page/35/